A
seminary,
theological college,
divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called
seminarians) in
theology, generally to prepare them for
ordination as clergy or for other
ministry. The English word is taken from the Latin
seminarium, translated as
seed-bed, an image taken from the
Council of Trent document
Cum adolescentium aetas which called for the first modern seminaries. In the West the term now refers to
Roman Catholic educational institutes and has widened to include other Christian denominations and
American Jewish institutions.